Montreal - Toronto - Niagara Falls

Going to Montreal, Toronto and Niagara Falls for this Thanksgiving break. Anyone know what there is to do in these places? I have been to Montreal before and am pretty familiar with it but not the others.

We can do some touristy stuff and would like to dine out but are particularly interested in what's good as far as night life goes.

What sort of stuff are you looking for and how are you traveling? Toronto has museums, restaurants, ethnic neighborhoods, bike rental places along the lakeshore. Montreal has great restaurants and a seriously cool old town, and the Falls are awe inspiring. I can stand there for hours and watch the water spill over the edge. Try Niagara on the Lake rather than Niagara Falls if you want a town to look around in though. It's not that the town is unsafe or anything, but it's full to the brim with horrible tourist tack.

I asked him about the Falls before and he said to go straight to the Canadian side and don't stop at all on the US side.

Apparently the US side is quite the ghetto and relatively unsafe. The Canadian side isn't the best of places, either, but it's far better/safer than the US side.

That comes from someone who lived their most of their life, so take it for what it's worth...

It's not just the ghetto aspect. The fact of the matter is that the bluff the Niagara River goes over to form the Falls is angled so that its face is toward the Canadian side. It's a matter of basic sight lines; there's just a better view from the Canadian side, whereas on the U.S. side you have to kind of crane your head to see the falls.

Originally Posted by Wordbiker

Lots of strip clubs in Niagara...

Please refer to them by their proper euphamism: "The Canadian Ballet."

I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.

Originally Posted by bragi"However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."

Anyhow, our (the Canadian) side is just better developed than the American side. It's cleaner and as one of the previous posters said, the sight lines are better over here. That said, the Clifton Hill area (located just over the Rainbow Bridge) is super tacky and tourist trap hell!

We have 2 casinos for your gambling pleasure and yes, there are numerous "gentlemen's clubs", but those are on the outskirts and opposite side of town.

Whatever you do, unless you like parting with money in a hurry, eat anywhere in the tourist area around the Falls. Every place is way overpriced.

There are lots of cool walks and hikes around the area too.

I could go on ... PM me if you want more Falls area info.

btw, in Toronto, the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) just opened after a massive renovation. It is really something to see. Not far from there, the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) is also a very cool thing to see (again ... reopened after a renovation last year, I believe)

If you like hockey, stop in the hockey hall of fame. Good advice on the the Canadian side of the falls (amazing how a bunch of politicians can mess up a tourist attraction like the falls, but I digress and don't want this to hit p&r....). TO has the night life!

See the Falls from Niagara Falls, Ontario, then drive north to Niagara-on-the-Lake, for dinner and some shopping. Lots of wineries in that area, and I think there are some winery stores in NOTL, on the main drag.

Distillery is to the east of downtown, close to the waterfront. It's billed as the largest area of preserved Victorian warehouse buildings in North America -- think Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco without the chain stores -- and it's bikes and pedestrians only.

I heard a story that the distillery supplied you guys during the prohibition, but I could bve getting my stories twisted on that.

Sadly they are putting up condos in the whole area as though they are going out of fashion, but it's still a cool district, and Soma chocolate shop really is to die for.

It's also at the meeting point of a couple of bike trails, so it's the perfect stop-over place for coffee or lunch.